The Kano State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, has said officers were deployed to the venue of a planned “Tinubu Must Go” (TMG) meeting on Sunday to protect participants and residents, not to stop the group from gathering. His explanation came hours after the movement’s conveners accused the police of barring them from a private event centre they had paid for. The standoff has reopened an old argument in Nigeria over how far the police can go in regulating political assemblies.
Abba Hikima, a lawyer and one of the movement’s conveners, raised the alarm in a live video on his verified Facebook page. He said about 10 mobile police vehicles had been stationed at the venue to keep members out. “They have been stationed here in order to prevent us from accessing the private venue which we paid for,” he said, adding that the action was “even the more reason why Tinubu must go.”
Hikima insisted the group needed no permission to meet. “The Court of Appeal decision stands. I do not need to inform any security agent to hold my rallies,” he said, warning that the movement would protest and demonstrate next time. He said the meeting was to hold peacefully inside an enclosed venue, and alleged that an officer told him the police had no objection to the gathering itself, only to members wearing clothing bearing the TMG inscription.
He also accused the Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, and CP Bakori of allowing politics to interfere with their duties. After failing to enter the venue, members marched through the streets chanting the movement’s slogan and waving branded flags.
Bakori, speaking in a Hausa-language interview, accepted that the group had every right to meet. “It is their right to come and organise their gathering. Nobody will stop them, and the law does not require them to inform us,” he said. He argued, however, that notice would have allowed the command to provide security and prevent tension.
The commissioner said he saw the plans on social media on Saturday night and called Hikima. He said he asked for the meeting to be postponed so both sides could talk, particularly as about 700 people were expected, but that his later calls went unanswered. “If 700 people are coming into Kano, we need to know the details,” he said, noting that political parties routinely write to the command before their events.
Bakori linked the deployment to an incident about two weeks earlier in Sabon Gari, where he said police seized weapons and arrested some people who claimed to be in Kano for political activities. He said investigations into that case were continuing. He rejected any suggestion of partisanship, saying, “There is nothing political about this,” and added that Hikima had notified the command of past events, which the police secured without incident.
The legal ground on which Hikima stands is well established. In 2007, the Court of Appeal in Inspector General of Police v All Nigeria Peoples Party upheld a lower court ruling that requiring a police permit for rallies was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution. Sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution guarantee freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly and association. Bakori’s position does not directly contradict that ruling, since he framed notification as a security courtesy rather than a legal requirement.
The security record he cites is also real. The Kano command said it arrested 244 suspects in August 2026 alone, including 117 suspected thugs picked up in operations across flashpoints in the metropolis. Political thuggery has long been a concern in the state, and police have repeatedly announced arrests and weapons seizures around party events and elections.
Kano’s recent history with anti-government gatherings adds to the sensitivity. During the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests, the state recorded looting and deaths, and the government imposed a 24-hour curfew. Amnesty International said at least 21 people were killed nationwide during those protests, a figure the police disputed.
The Sunday dispute leaves key questions open. The police have not said whether officers objected to the movement’s insignia, as Hikima alleged, and the TMG has not said whether it will notify the command before its next gathering. Both sides, however, have indicated they are open to the other’s position on paper: the police say the group may meet, and the group says it intends to remain peaceful.